Setting the scene

The book begins with a critique of how and why innovation is increasingly the framework of choice in the UK for finding new and better ways of responding to difficult social problems that have been difficult to address via conventional practice models and systems. We note that there is neither a shared definition of what constitutes innovation in the UK social care sector nor a comprehensive understanding of what might be expected within innovation projects at different stages in their journeys. This chapter sets out how the authors have sought to address these gaps in understanding through a novel ethnographic study (the Innovate Project) of how six statutory safeguarding services and third sector organisations introduced new approaches to addressing extra-familial risks and harms affecting young people. The study methodology is introduced, and the three frameworks upon which innovations were built (Contextual Safeguarding, Transitional Safeguarding and Trauma-informed Practice) are described. Finally, an outline is provided of what the ensuing chapters will cover.